Editing French Resistance (section)

==Role in the liberation of France and casualties==
[[File:Members of the Maquis in La Tresorerie.jpg|thumb|left|A group of resistants at the time of their joining forces with the Canadian army at [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]], in September 1944.]]
{{Main|Liberation of France}}

Defining the precise role of the French Resistance during the [[German occupation of France during World War II|German occupation]], or assessing its military importance alongside the Allied Forces during the [[liberation of France]], is difficult. The two forms of resistance, active and passive,{{Sfn|Davies|2000|p=52}} and the north–south occupational divide,{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=410–413}} allow for many interpretations, but what can broadly be agreed on is a synopsis of the events which took place.

Following the surrender of [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] in September 1943, a significant example of Resistance strength was displayed when the [[Corsica]]n Resistance joined forces with the [[Free French Forces|Free French]] to liberate the island from General [[Albert Kesselring]]'s remaining German forces.{{Sfn|Abram|2003|p=414}}

On mainland France itself, in the wake of the [[Normandy landings|D-Day]] landings in Normandy in June 1944, the [[French Forces of the Interior|FFI]] and the communist fighting groups [[Francs-Tireurs et Partisans|FTP]], theoretically unified under the command of [[Marie Pierre Koenig|General Pierre Kœnig]],{{Sfn|Crowdy|2007|p=21}} fought alongside the Allies to free the rest of France. Several color-coded plans were co-ordinated for sabotage, most importantly ''Plan Vert'' (green) for railways, ''Plan Bleu'' (blue) for power installations and ''Plan Violet'' (purple) for telecommunications.{{Sfn|Christofferson|Christofferson|2006|p=175}}{{Sfn|Kedward|1993|p=166}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=541}} To complement these missions, smaller plans were drafted: ''Plan Rouge'' (red) for German ammunition depots, ''Plan Jaune'' (yellow) for German command posts, ''Plan Noir'' (black) for German fuel depots and ''Plan Tortue'' (Tortoise) for road traffic.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=541}}{{Sfn|Crowdy|2007|p=51}} Their paralysis of German infrastructure is widely thought to have been very effective.{{Sfn|van der Vat|2003|p=45}} British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] later wrote in his memoirs praising the role the Resistance played in the liberation of Brittany, "The French Resistance Movement, which here numbered 30,000 men, played a notable part, and the peninsula was quickly overrun."{{Sfn|Churchill|1953|p=28}}

[[File:Crowds of French patriots line the Champs Elysees-edit2.jpg|thumb|Leclerc's [[French 2nd Division (World War II)|2nd Armoured Division]] parading after the [[Battle for Paris]], August 1944.]]
[[File:French resistance during Paris Uprising 1944.jpg|right|thumb|French resistance fighters in Paris at the Hotel de Ville, 1944.]]

The [[Liberation of Paris]] on August 25, 1944, with the support of [[Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque|Leclerc]]'s [[2nd Armored Division (France)|French 2nd Armored Division]], was one of the most famous and glorious moments of the French Resistance. Although it is again difficult to gauge their effectiveness precisely, popular anti-German demonstrations, such as general strikes by the [[Paris Métro]], the [[French Gendarmerie|gendarmerie]] and the [[Police in France|police]], took place, and fighting ensued.

The liberation of most of southwestern, central and southeastern France was finally fulfilled with the arrival of the [[French First Army|1st French Army]] of [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny|General de Lattre de Tassigny]], which landed in Provence in August 1944 and was backed by over 25,000 maquis.{{Sfn|Churchill|1953|p=87}}

One source often referred to is General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s comment in his military memoir, ''[[Crusade in Europe]]'':

{{blockquote|Throughout France, the Free French had been of inestimable value in the campaign. They were particularly active in Brittany, but on every portion of the front we secured help from them in a multitude of ways. Without their great assistance, the liberation of France and the defeat of the enemy in Western Europe would have consumed a much longer time and meant greater losses to ourselves.{{Sfn|Eisenhower|1997}}}}

General Eisenhower also estimated the value of the Resistance to have been equal to ten to fifteen divisions at the time of the landings. (One infantry division comprised about ten thousand soldiers.){{Sfn|Paddock|2002|p=29}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=557}} Eisenhower's statements are all the more credible since he based them on his GHQ's formal analyses and published them only after the war, when propaganda was no longer a motive. Historians still debate how effective the French Resistance was militarily,{{Sfn|Marlston|Malkasian|2008|pp=83–90}} but the neutralization of the [[Maquis du Vercors]] alone involved the commitment of over 10,000 German troops within the theater, with several more thousand held in reserve, as the Allied invasion was advancing from Normandy and French [[Military history of France during World War II#Operation Jedburgh (June)|Operation Jedburgh]] commandos were being dropped nearby to the south to prepare for the Allied landing in Provence. One American officer, [[Ralph Ingersoll (PM publisher)|Ralph Ingersoll]] who served in SHEAF wrote in his book ''Top Secret'':

{{blockquote|...what cut the ice with us was the fact that when we came to France the Resistance was so effective that it took half a dozen real live German divisions to contend with it, divisions which might otherwise have been on our backs in the Bocage. And it made the most cynical sit up and take notice when we learned from German field officers that the Germans in central France were truly terrified, had to live under arms, could not move freely, had lost all control in sizable sectors even before we came ... It was a military fact that the French were worth at least a score of divisions to us, maybe more.{{Sfn|Crowdy|2007|pp=58–59}}}}

It is estimated that FFI killed some 2,000 Germans, a low estimate based on the figures from June 1944 only.{{Sfn|Marlston|Malkasian|2008|pp=83–90}} Estimates of the casualties among the Resistance are made harder by the dispersion of movements at least until [[D-Day]], but credible estimates start from 8,000 dead in action, 25,000 shot and several tens of thousands deported.{{Sfn|Simonnet|2004|p=68}} For perspective, the best estimate is that 86,000 were deported from France without racial motive, overwhelmingly comprising resistance fighters and more than the number of Gypsies and [[Vichy France#Jewish death toll|Jews deported]] from France.<ref name="bilan_deportation">{{cite web| url=http://www.memoire-net.org/article.php3?id_article=98| title=Combien y a-t-il eu de déportés en France?| author=Marsura, Evelyne| access-date=2011-03-07| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718144428/http://www.memoire-net.org/article.php3?id_article=98| archive-date=2011-07-18}}</ref>